PRESS RELEASE ON STATE HARASSMENT AND NATIONAL COHESION
My fellow Kenyans, yet again, in what has now become common, the Government of Kenya seems to have chosen to misuse state resources in the application of public policy. The Jubilee Government has chosen to conduct itself in a manner that threatens national stability and undermines national cohesion. As a member of the CORD coalition, I would like to condemn the arrest of my colleagues in the strongest terms possible.
It has just come to my attention that the member for Suna East Hon. Junet Mohammed, Kilifi Women Representative Hon. Aisha Jumwa, Senator for Machakos Mheshimiwa Mr Johnstone Muthama, Busia Women Representative Hon. Mrs Florence Mutua and Kitutu Masaba MP Hon. Mr Timothy Bosire are currently before a court of law after an inexplicable arrest over hate speech and incitement charges.
These charges are not in keeping with the spirit of nation building. The harassment and bullying of elected public officials, further erodes the little progress we have made as a country.
Given the partisan treatment of this issue, and the governments reluctance and eventual arrest of their coalition members that have threatened assassinations and evictions of people non – indigenous to certain areas, we can only surmise a lack of interest in pursuing national cohesion from Jubilee.
This country has recently come through very difficult times. Instead of building this country through pursuing inter-ethnic, inter-regional and inter-generational equity, we have been treated to repeated displays of discrimination by public policy and outright brutality against perceived “enemies of the state”.
I want to remind the Jubilee coalition, that the world has seen greater tyrants and more repressive states that have all eventually fallen. I wish to urge our partners to behave in a manner that guarantees the endurance of the state. Instead of worrying about the utterances of individuals, to pursue a more inclusive national conversation and implement a material substantive approach to public policy that promotes a lasting peace.
Instead of selling ancestral land to the people of Likoni in a resettlement payment program that has never been seen before in this country, or pursuing a sugar deal that threatens the lives of 6Million people in the sugar belt, or killing 24 sheikhs and putting targeted groups of people in cages at Kasarani National Stadium, I would urge our brothers and sisters in the ruling coalition to pursue policy that integrates this country. A policy that will build tolerance that will last for generations. These arrests only serve to further demonise a section of the population.
The government, like governments everywhere, bears ALL responsibility for national stability and cohesion. This is because they are the bearers of all the tools to ensure the same. I urge my Jubilee friends to proceed with caution, the stability and future of the Kenyan project depends on it. Thank you and God Bless you.
Hassan Ali Joho
Governor, Mombasa County
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